The city council approved in August 2021 a measure I sponsored that will allow food trucks in our Industrial Districts. Councilwoman Kassandra Timothee was the co-sponsor.
Before now, food trucks were illegal across the city, except for permitted special events. But as I recently had a beer at Lost City Brewery, I noticed they didn’t have any food. Lost City (lostcitybrewing.com) is one of a few breweries to open recently in our Industrial District. The brewery doesn’t have a kitchen so they had hoped to rely on food trucks to feed hungry customers. Unfortunately, the bureaucracy for getting a special permit every weekend was too costly.
The new rule allows breweries and similar establishments to have a regular food truck whenever they choose. Of course, fees and permits are still required, but only on an annual basis. And they are only allowed in our Industrial Districts, of which there are only two in the city. One is along the FEC railroad tracks at NE 123 Street…the other along the tracks near NE 151 Street.
It is important to note that our new regulations DO NOT allow food trucks everywhere. In fact, they are still prohibited in our Commercial Zones (like NE 125 Street, Biscayne Boulevard, West Dixie Hwy., etc.). We did not want to create competition for existing mom-and-pop restaurants already struggling to bring in customers.
Wow, that’s crazy. I remember back in the day mom working at 2 different uniform laundry’s right by the tracks off 123rd and the lunch truck would come around 3 times during her shifts. I loved going to work with her just for that. Later she worked at Panelfab off 140something by the tracks and the truck came there as well. Never knew they were later outlawed.
Love that you two did this! Hope it is a success and we can expand it further in the near future. More options create more activity and buzz around our city, we too can be a destination dining spot.